Obligation – Stay or Go
Are we so entrenched in societal rules that we’ve lost track of our own well-being? For many people, they have married a person because it was the correct thing to do. Then they will remain in the relationship because of the children, and will see the signs that their partner is abusive, but if they ended the relationship what would other people think? I ask people how long in the...Learn More
Desire – Helping Others Before Myself
For Thanksgiving, I was about to do the typical “stay-at-home thing” like I had for the last few years but wanted to be with family. It had been a while, being caught up in running the facility, but now I needed a break and wanted to make my 90-year-old mother happy. I was getting back into the habit of making others more important than myself, burning myself out, and simply needing to get...Learn More
Are You Enlightened?
If you think you are enlightened, go home for the holidays. Well, at least that was the joke they told us in grad school. Family has a way of pushing our buttons even if you believe you are an ascended master. After years and years of personal growth, I recently went home for the holidays and had a great time! Am I enlightened? No, far from it. I still had my anxieties, hurt, and shame. Now,...Learn More
Homeless for the Holidays
I was setting up my office Christmas tree this past holiday and what flashed on me was how I was homeless this time of the year in 1981. Unfortunately, I was not alone. Each year more and more people are homeless, familyless, or friendless. That storybook holiday so often packaged each year on TV and in the movies where you have a home, a family, warmth, and food, didn’t happen to me...Learn More
A Typical Couple’s Intake
The following is a dramatization – no real persons were depicted or harmed “I don’t know why we are going here. We can handle things on our own,” says the husband as the wife drives them into the parking lot. “I’ve tried, you haven’t, and things are not changing. We need help and that’s why we’re here,” the wife replies as she parks the car and opens her door. “Now, I’m going in...Learn More
A Fond Farewell – Charity
With a heavy heart, one of my staff members is leaving the nest and moving to Florida with her family in a few days. We have been together for six years and after supervising her during her college years and while she was working to obtain her counseling license we had grown very close. I am well aware of the fact that people enter and leave our lives, but that doesn’t prepare you for the...Learn More
A Tribute to Peter
Last week my father-in-law passed away. The tricky thing was he lived 30 miles away from the nearest neighbor, just north of Joshua Tree National Forest in California, and all by himself. It was a miracle a delivery person found his body or his dog Max would have been lost too. Peter was a young 82-year-old, who walked 5 miles a day but had a problem with smoking. The desert oasis he lived...Learn More
Energetic Family
Psychology is the science of relationships. Our relationships with ourselves mirror our relationships with others. Therefore, it is extremely important for us to have a good relationship within. To do so becomes quite an art form – from repeating positive affirmations, using self-appreciation, to setting intentions to be more positive can set you on the proper path to being more kind to...Learn More
Family Therapy
According to the Family Systems Theory, your current relationships are influenced by your family of origin. If you have problems with communication, and closeness, or get frustrated easily, take a look back and see how your family acted while you were growing up. To make a profound change, Family Systems Theory believes that the family system itself needs to change. We all are born into...Learn More